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Listen & Learn: Be More Productive

Have a New Year’s resolution to be more productive? I recommend playing an audiobook offering productivity tips during your commute, workouts, chores, or even nestling in before bed. I love finding inspiration from excellent nonfiction books that offer tips and strategies for improving your life. Listen and learn with these great picks from the Digital Johnson County audiobook collection!

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity--principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

David Allen reads an all-new edition of his popular self-help classic for managing work-life balance in the twenty-first century—now updated for the new challenges facing individuals and organizations in today's rapidly changing world.
Since it was first published more than fifteen years ago, David Allen's Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business books of its era, and the ultimate book on personal organization. "GTD" is now shorthand for an entire way of approaching professional and personal tasks, and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organizational tools, seminars, and offshoots.
Allen has rewritten the book from start to finish, tweaking his classic text with important perspectives on the new workplace, and adding material that will make the book fresh and relevant for years to come. This new edition of Getting Things Done will be welcomed not only by its hundreds of thousands of existing fans but also by a whole new generation eager to adopt its proven principles.

At the core of Smarter Faster Better are eight key productivity concepts—from motivation and goal setting to focus and decision making—that explain why some people and companies get so much done. Drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics—as well as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway songwriters—this painstakingly researched book explains that the most productive people, companies, and organizations don't merely act differently. They view the world, and their choices, in profoundly different ways.

"Feel like you're on a treadmill that won't stop? Learn to step off and hit your stride. Not long ago Christine Carter, happiness expert at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, speaker, writer, and mother, found herself caught up in the busyness of modern life: too many conflicting obligations and not enough time, energy, or patience to get everything done. She tried all the standard techniques--prioritizing, multitasking, delegating--but found that she needed a new approach, one that would allow her to live more in that zone we've all glimpsed but can never seem to hold on to: the sweet spot of expertise, efficiency, and ease. Drawing on her vast knowledge of the latest psychological, neurological, and biological science related to happiness, productivity, and elite performance, Carter put herself through the practical paces. Her goal was not to live a stress-free life, but rather to build stress resilience and find a quicker path to calm and confidence. Her trials and errors are our reward. In The Sweet Spot, Carter shares what she calls "the sweet spot equation," a combination of strategies and practices for attaining happiness without giving up success, and for achieving success without compromising happiness. Using a simple formula, The Sweet Spot shows us how to take a brief recess, an inoculation against "The Overwhelm" and the key to converting stress into productive and creative energy institute daily micro-habits that free you up to focus on and enjoy more important things unplug from seemingly time-saving gadgets that can sap our strength, and use technology more strategically prioritize our relationships, making use of the hard science that points out how healthy connections help us thrive. cultivate tolerance for a little discomfort while we build mastery (the skills that make hard things feel easy) and develop the grit to bounce back from life's inevitable setbacks Complete with practical "easiest thing" tips for instant relief as well as stories from Carter's own experience of putting The Sweet Spot into action, this timely and inspiring book lets us in on the possibilities for joy and freedom that comes when we stop trying to do everything right--and start doing the right things"--

Whatever your habitat, you deserve one that brings you happiness, not stress. Interspersed with lists and challenges, this practical, no-nonsense housekeeping and organization guide will help listeners take control of the mess in their homes.

In her long-awaited debut book, she shares her revolutionary 3-step solution:
• Identify the most important areas (MIAs) in your home that need attention
• Select the proper products, tools, and techniques (PTT) for the job
• Implement these new cleaning routines so that they stick
Clean My Space takes the chore out of cleaning with Melissa's incredible tips and cleaning hacks (the power of pretreating!) her lightning fast 5-10 minute "express clean" routines for every room when time is tightest, and her techniques for cleaning even the most daunting places and spaces. And a big bonus: Melissa gives guidance on the best non-toxic, eco-conscious cleaning products and offers natural cleaning solution recipes you can make at home using essential oils to soothe and refresh. With Melissa's simple groundbreaking method you can truly live in a cleaner, more cheerful, and calming home all the time.

Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does. He argues that the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today's world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

We live in a world of great and increasing complexity, where even the most expert professionals struggle to master the tasks they face. Longer training, ever more advanced technologies—neither seems to prevent grievous errors. But in a hopeful turn, acclaimed surgeon and writer Atul Gawande finds a remedy in the humblest and simplest of techniques: the checklist. First introduced decades ago by the U.S. Air Force, checklists have enabled pilots to fly aircraft of mindboggling sophistication. Now innovative checklists are being adopted in hospitals around the world, helping doctors and nurses respond to everything from flu epidemics to avalanches. Even in the immensely complex world of surgery, a simple ninety second variant has cut the rate of fatalities by more than a third.
In riveting stories, Gawande takes us from Austria, where an emergency checklist saved a drowning victim who had spent half an hour underwater, to Michigan, where a cleanliness checklist in intensive care units virtually eliminated a type of deadly hospital infection. He explains how checklists actually work to prompt striking and immediate improvements. And he follows the checklist revolution into fields well beyond medicine, from disaster response to investment banking, skyscraper construction, and businesses of all kinds.
An intellectual adventure in which lives are lost and saved and one simple idea makes a tremendous difference, The Checklist Manifesto is essential reading for anyone working to get things right.

Stories about the most universal of productivity tools: The Checklist. Listen for some inspiration! -Melody

"Explains the connection between boredom and original thinking, exploring how we can harness boredom's hidden benefits to become our most productive and creative selves without totally abandoning our gadgets in the process. Grounding the book in the neuroscience and cognitive psychology of 'mind wandering' - what our brains do when we're doing nothing at all - Manoush includes practical steps you can take to ease the nonstop busyness and enhance your ability to dream wonder, and gain clarity in your work and life."--Dust jacket flap.